Author: Tom Wicker
Big and Small
Cate Blanchett is superb in Sydney Theatre Company’s new interpretation of German playwright Botho Strauss’s Brechtian exploration of alienation. Unlike some of the big names to tread the boards in London recently, she knows how to capture an audience. But she does so in a production that feels disjointed and … Continue Reading Big and Small
Neighbourhood Watch
Alan Ayckbourn’s brand of Little Britain social comedy has wrapped itself around many subjects over the years. Here, directing as well as writing, he tackles a Big Society-ish world with disarming wit. When a garden gnome is lobbed through a window, the Daily Mail-inflamed residents of Bluebell Hill Development take … Continue Reading Neighbourhood Watch
Bette and Joan
The career-long feud between Joan Crawford and Bette Davis is the stuff of cinematic legend, blending seamlessly with the schlocky pleasures of their only film together, 1962′s Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? Its tale of deranged sibling rivalry between two faded child stars and the stories dogging its production have made it … Continue Reading Bette and Joan
Mary Rose
Matthew Parker’s version of this ghost story by JM Barrie is often mournfully beautiful, capturing the play’s dark swell of loss and need. It’s 1919 and Harry has returned to his family home after years abroad and time in the army. But the Sussex house, although locked up, is not … Continue Reading Mary Rose
Interview: new playwright Alison Evans
Tom Wicker speaks with first-time playwright Alison Evans about her controversial debut, The Supper Party. The Supper Party is a darkly comic exploration of media exploitation and cultural hypocrisy in an age when parents will sign away their children’s lives for fame in print or on TV. Directed by Eleanor … Continue Reading Interview: new playwright Alison Evans
From-Start-to-Finnish programme launch
Today saw the launch of the From-Start-to-Finnish theatrical exchange programme between the Pleasance Theatre and ACE Production, Finland. Pekka Huhtaniemi, the ambassador of Finland, introduced the initiative at his official residency in Kensington Palace Gardens. He emphasised his country’s rich theatrical heritage and the importance of bringing Finnish productions to … Continue Reading From-Start-to-Finnish programme launch
Interview: Actor/Director Michael Pennington
As the UK gears up for the World Shakespeare Festival, renowned actor and director Michael Pennington talks to Tom Wicker about his new book on the Bard. Michael Pennington has lived with William Shakespeare for most of his life. As a child, watching Paul Rogers as Macbeth at the Old … Continue Reading Interview: Actor/Director Michael Pennington
A Clockwork Orange
Why bother adapting Anthony Burgess’s A Clockwork Orange after Kubrick? The author wasn’t happy with the film but as Stephen King’s dismal TV version of his own novel The Shining demonstrates, faithful doesn’t equal definitive. Add to the mix the tabloid scaremongering about copycat killings that saw Kubrick ban his film from being shown … Continue Reading A Clockwork Orange
Interview: Clever as Clever
Following the success of their debut production, Public Interest, exciting young theatre company Clever as Clever returns to the New Diorama Theatre with Four Days of Grace. This one-actor show tells the story of Grace, a young mother trying to put the pieces of her life in place. Restricted to … Continue Reading Interview: Clever as Clever
How’s the World Treating You?
Frank More just wants to teach history. But from losing his trousers in an army transit camp in 1946 to losing his marbles as a failed washing machine salesman in 1966, will he ever succeed? Roger Milner’s surreal three-act comedy about post-war British snobbery and double standards – unseen in … Continue Reading How’s the World Treating You?
Interview: Philip Ridley
“It’s a strange kind of dream time.” Talented playwright, artist, screenwriter and children’s novelist Philip Ridley is talking to me about how it feels finally to be kicking his new play Shivered out of the front door and into the world. But he could also be describing the past few years of his … Continue Reading Interview: Philip Ridley
Going Dark
Sound&Fury’s innovative new production plunges us into darkness to connect the vastness of the night sky with our lives, loves and ways of seeing the world. Sometimes the lines are a little too obviously drawn; but ultimately this cosmic exploration of human loss and the power (and necessity) of imagination … Continue Reading Going Dark
Off West End Theatre Awards 2012
On Sunday 5 February, OffWestEnd.com (founded by Sofie Mason) held its second Off West End “Offies” Awards, celebrating the best of fringe and independent theatre of the past year. The event was hosted by Theatre Royal Stratford East and presented by actress Louise Jamieson. Stars of stage including Alison Steadman, Don Warrington … Continue Reading Off West End Theatre Awards 2012
The Summer House
Three men – two doctors and one stranger – fret over their career paths and ponder dormer windows, while sniping at each other like children and trying to achieve the impossible task of seeming macho by getting pissed in a hot tub. This collective effort from Will Adamsdale, Neil Haigh, … Continue Reading The Summer House
The Lady from the Sea
There are times during this revival of Ibsen’s take on the Little Mermaid myth – premiering a new translation by director Stephen Unwin – you wish that the “lady from the sea” would just jump in the ocean and not come back. While Unwin is good at teasing out the … Continue Reading The Lady from the Sea
Sex with a Stranger
While the BAC revisits Homer’s The Odyssey care of Paper Cinema, Trafalgar Studios’ latest production also tells the story of an epic journey. But instead of gods and monsters, Adam (Russell Tovey) and Grace (Jaime Winstone) must contend with sub-zero temperatures, night buses, taxis and their utter mismatch on the … Continue Reading Sex with a Stranger